The Brief

Poutine is sadly not a common dish at the diners and burger joints of greater L.A. If you’re unfamiliar with this touchstone of Quebecois cuisine, the basic formula is a plate of french fries, chunky cheese curds and a thin brown gravy.

The gravy should be hot enough to melt the curds so you get a gooey pull of cheese with every forkful of fry. Like the chili fries of L.A.’s classic burger stands, Poutine is best enjoyed by fork. Also, like chili fries, this messy dish can be an indulgent side to a burger or a meal in itself.

A popular Quebec dish called Poutine, consisting of french fries, cheddar cheese and gravy.

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David Boily

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Since originating at diners in rural Quebec in the 1950s, poutine is now common throughout Canada. Menus at many poutineries often include embellished versions, supplemented with toppings or transformed by subbing the gravy for another rich, heavy sauce.

(Montreal’s Au Pied de Cochon, an icon of Quebecois cuisine, famously serves a foie gras poutine that melts in your mouth and travels directly to your arteries.)

Attending college in Montreal in the early 2000s, I probably had it once a week, sometimes as post-bar drunk food, but often as a part of a bigger lunch or dinner (RIP to my early 20s metabolism).

Every burger place, kabob shop, deli, diner and pizzeria had at least a simple version of poutine. Even Canada’s McDonalds has a poutine that’s hard to resist. “Do you want to upgrade your fries to a Poutine?” [think about it for a 10th of a second] “Yes. Yes, I do!”

For years, when people asked me if there was poutine in L.A., I would point them to Jay’s Bar, a comforting strip-mall gastropub in Silver Lake that nailed the main three elements of the dish. But when a friend recently texted me the same question, I realized that Jay’s menu had switched to Japanese bar food.

So where else to go? To find out, I've bounced from Santa Clarita to Long Beach, assessing the viscosity of various gravies, testing the elasticity of melted curds, and determining which restaurants make the most delicious poutines in the region.

Here’s what I found:

The Kroft (Anaheim, Chinatown, Long Beach)

The braised beef poutine from The Kroft in Chinatown.

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Henry Goldman

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Walking into the Kroft’s Chinatown outpost, nestled into one of the new apartment buildings at the Chinatown Gateway Monument, I was slightly skeptical. The counter-service restaurant, with outposts in L.A., Long Beach and Anaheim, had a sign in their window that announced they serve poutine. But then, in parentheses, the sign described poutine as “loaded fries.”

Now, it’s true that poutine is similar to loaded fries — I would contend they might even be culinary cousins. But this description negates poutine’s identity as a category unto itself. It would be like a sign describing nachos as “chips and dip.” It undermines the dish’s power.

However, once I took in the plethora of authentic-looking poutines on the menu, I relaxed a bit. Even though they sell burgers, this place could qualify as a poutinerie, a restaurant that makes poutine the star of their menu. In addition to a basic poutine, they serve some very appetizing variations, like a loco moco poutine with wagyu beef and fried eggs. And a country fried chicken poutine, which adds chicken nuggets and swaps out the brown gravy for a country sausage gravy.

I was blown away by the braised beef poutine, which, in addition to brown gravy, curds and fries, adds pickled red onions, sautéed mushrooms and the titular braised beef to make an oozy carb bomb. The double-fried french fries are crisp enough to not immediately turn soupy when hit with the gravy, but the gravy is not so hot that it scalds your mouth. It is also rich, complex, and the braised beef blends perfectly with the overall dish. A strong contender.

Sideburns, Long Beach 

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Henry Goldman

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During the pandemic, The Stache Bar, the platonic ideal of a neighborhood dive located near downtown Long Beach, opened up Sideburns in the space next door. It’s a humble counter-service burger joint, with a menu that lends itself to food that works well before the bar, after the bar and during the bar.

Sideburns has a lot of mouthwatering offerings, including a classic poutine. (They also have a “poutine burger,” which is exactly what it sounds like, a burger with poutine on it, which I will have to try for another article).

We initially ordered in the restaurant, but realized we could eat at the bar, so made the trek next door to eat our food with a cold beer. Nothing makes me feel quite like a grown-up then walking into a dark dive on an excessively bright day.

After a short wait, the bartender dropped a tremendous classic poutine on the bar. Size-wise, it’s closer to a side poutine than a meal. I suspect that's because if the bar was serving full plates of poutine, they would immediately put their customers to sleep. The poutine itself hits all the important notes: a brown gravy that lingers on the tongue, thick curds that melt nicely, and crisp, kennebec fries. After cleaning the paper tray the poutine came in, I was envious of the locals who get to call this lovely dive their neighborhood watering hole.

Wavy Gravy, Highland Park  

Poutine from Wavy Gravy in Highland Park.

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Henry Goldman

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A newish, gravy-forward restaurant in Highland Park, Wavy Gravy has enough varieties of poutine on the menu that it could reasonably be called a poutinerie — if that term meant anything to Southern California restaurant-goers.

However, they also serve plenty of burgers, sandwiches and all-day breakfast items, so their framing as a “diner” also fits. The counter service restaurant on York has a retro aesthetic, a comfortable vibe and I suspect some Canadian roots. There was a stack of Nanaimo bars (a chocolatey cookie bar originally from British Columbia), in a display case next to a small Canadian flag. They also know their poutine.

Of the L.A. County poutines I tried, I think Wavy Gravy has my favorite gravy, which is a happy development for a restaurant with “gravy” in its name. It was rich and decadent and was also the perfect temperature to melt the square-ish curds on the poutine. The fries were also perfectly fried — initially crispy but soft enough inside to melt in your mouth a few moments after biting into them.

After trying the basic poutine, I came back for their taco poutine with grilled chicken. I was curious to discover how it incorporated Mexican flavors into this decidedly Quebecois dish. The answer? Not very well. Nonetheless, the poutine was delicious, but it would have been better called a “marinated chicken poutine” rather than a “taco poutine”. That’s all to say, I still heartily recommend Wavy Gravy as one of the finest purveyors of poutine I’ve found in Southern California. I look forward to returning and trying more of the varieties on the menu.

I’m definitely hoping that these and other restaurants will create a new generation of poutine aficionados in and around L.A., and will push chefs to try new iterations on a classic dish. But even if it remains niche and only on a few menus, I'll still return to these recommended spots, hoping for that perfect, gravy-soaked cheese-pull.

The World Cup is coming to Los Angeles in 2026. Could the Women's World Cup come here too?

On Friday, FIFA released the bid books for the 2031 Women’s World Cup.

The U.S. Soccer Federation submitted a joint bid with Mexico, Costa Rica and Jamaica. It was the only bid that made the deadline.

If approved, several cities across the four countries would host the global football tournament.

Forty venues have in the U.S. have been proposed as potential sites for 2031 games, with some right here in southern California.

Football’s coming back?

Four Los Angeles stadiums are part of the bid.

• Rose Bowl
• Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
• Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson
• SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.

Show me the money

The bid projected that the 2031 tournament would bring in $4 billion in total revenue — four times more than $1 billion projected to be made from the upcoming 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil.

Organizers expect to generate revenue from across six main sources including: ticket revenues, hospitality, concessions, fan festivals, broadcast, and marketing opportunities.

Ticket prices are projected to start at $35 for the opening rounds seats, and between $120 and $600 for later matches

Wait and see

FIFA is expected to formally confirm the bid at their next congress on April 30th in Vancouver.

The evaluation process will focus on, according to FIFA, “the event vision and key metrics, infrastructure, services, commercial considerations, and sustainability and human rights.”

The venues where games will be held won't be decided for at least a few more years.

California ag giant the Wonderful Company suffered a setback on Tuesday in its bid to overturn a new farmworker unionization law when an appeals court tossed its lawsuit against state labor regulators.

The decision by a three-judge panel of the 5th District Court of Appeal in Fresno leaves in place a controversial new law backed by the United Farm Workers that was meant to boost organizing in a heavily immigrant workforce. The law allows farmworkers to signal their support for union representation using a signed card, bypassing the traditional in-person, secret-ballot election usually held on the employer’s property.

The Wonderful Company — owner of the Wonderful Pistachios brand and Fiji Water, Pom pomegranate juices and Halos oranges —filed suit against the state’s Agricultural Labor Relations Board last year trying to overturn the law, which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed in 2023.

The suit, alleging the law is unconstitutional, came after the United Farm Workers filed a petition with enough signatures to represent 600-odd workers at the company’s grape nursery in Wasco.

In a contentious public dispute, the company accused union organizers of tricking workers into signing cards supporting unionization and provided over 100 employees’ signatures attesting to being deceived; in turn, the union accused the company of illegally intimidating workers into withdrawing their support. Regulators at the agricultural labor board filed charges against Wonderful after investigating the claims.

All of those allegations were being heard before the labor board last spring when Wonderful took the matter to court, arguing the new law deprived the company of due process. A Kern County judge initially halted the board proceedings, but the appeals court allowed them to continue last fall. After weeks of hearings this year, the labor board has yet to issue a decision on whether UFW can represent Wonderful employees.

In the meantime, the company has shuttered the Wasco nursery and donated it to UC Davis, making the question of an actual union at the worksite moot.

In the new ruling, the appeals court judges issued a sharp rebuke of the company for suing over the unionization instead of waiting for the labor board decision.

“Wonderful filed this petition notwithstanding approximately 50 years of unbroken precedent finding an employer may not directly challenge a union certification decision in court except in extraordinarily and exceedingly rare circumstances, which Wonderful does not meaningfully attempt to show are present here,” wrote Justice Rosendo Peña.

Elizabeth Strater, a United Farm Workers vice president, said the decision affirms that “every farm worker in California has rights under the law, and those rights need to be protected.”

But Wonderful Company General Counsel Craig Cooper dismissed the ruling as only a matter of timing: “the decision explicitly does not address the merits of Wonderful Nurseries’ constitutional challenge.”

After an Afghan national was named as being behind a shooting in Washington, D.C., that left one member of the National Guard dead and another in critical condition, the Trump administration says it is halting all asylum decisions.

Joseph Edlow, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), said Friday night that the agency is pausing decisions "until we can ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible."

"The safety of the American people always comes first," Edlow wrote on X.

The decision follows President Trump's promise of a sharp crackdown on immigration from countries he described as "third world."

Writing on social media on Thursday night, Trump railed against immigrants from impoverished nations, accusing them of being a burden on the nation's welfare system and "preying" on natural-born citizens.

"I will permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries to allow the U.S. system to fully recover," he wrote on Truth Social.

"Only REVERSE MIGRATION can fully cure this situation."

The Trump administration is already deporting some immigrants, either to their countries of origin or to third countries, many of which are paid to receive them. Venezuelans were deported from the U.S. to El Salvador, a number of migrants were sent to Eswatini and South Sudan, and Rwanda has agreed to accept deportees.

Edlow wrote on social media Thursday that he had been directed to conduct "a full scale, rigorous reexamination of every Green Card for every alien from every country of concern."

He did not say which countries this would entail, and the USCIS did not respond to an NPR request for comment. But a June White House proclamation placed a travel ban on 12 countries of concern.

A makeshift memorial of flowers and American flags stands outside the Farragut West Metro station on Nov. 28, 2025 in Washington, DC.

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These included many African nations suffering from conflict and terrorism such as Chad, Sudan and Somalia — as well as other countries, such as Afghanistan. Another 7 countries were slapped with partial restrictions.

In a statement to CNN, the Department of Homeland Security said it had already halted all immigration requests stemming from Afghanistan and was in the process of reviewing "all" asylum cases approved under former President Biden.

The department did not respond to an NPR request for comment.

History of anti-immigrant sentiment

The president's latest comments against immigration was sparked by the revelation that the alleged shooter was identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal — a 29-year-old Afghan national who had worked with the CIA to fight the Taliban in his native country and was admitted into the United States in 2021 as a result of his service. In a Thanksgiving Day call with servicemembers, Trump described the shooting as a terrorist attack and the shooter as a "savage monster."

He blamed the Biden administration for Lakanwal's entry to the United States and for a general failure of the immigration system.

"For the most part, we don't want 'em," he said, referring broadly to immigration seekers as gang members, mentally ill and previously incarcerated.

Trump ran both successful White House campaigns on a pledge to crack down on illegal immigration, targeting at various points migrants from countries including Mexico and Somalia.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday after the Thanksgiving call, Trump widened his attack to focus not just on the alleged shooter but to rail against immigration to the U.S. and immigrants in general.

When asked by a reporter about the fact that as a former CIA asset, Lakanwal had been vetted, Trump repeatedly berated the reporter as "stupid."

People detained earlier in the day are taken to a parking lot on the far north side of the city before being transferred to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility on Oct. 31, 2025, in Chicago, Ill.

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Asked by another reporter whether he blamed all Afghans for the alleged actions of one, Trump said: "No, but there's a lot of problems with Afghans."

Trump then turned his attention to immigrants from Somalia, who he has repeatedly accused of being gang-affiliated and "taking over" Minnesota — home to the nation's largest Somali community.

Questioned about what Somalis had to do with the D.C. shooting, Trump said: "Nothing." But, he added, "Somalians have caused a lot of trouble." .

Later on social media, he described "Somalian gangs" in Minnesota as "roving the streets looking for 'prey' as our wonderful people stay locked in their apartments and houses hoping against hope that they will be left alone."

Officials for the United Nations on Friday criticized Trump's call for sweeping halts to immigration seekers.

"They are entitled to protection under international law, and that should be given due process," U.N. human rights office spokesperson Jeremy Laurence told reporters in Geneva.

Copyright 2025 NPR

Alex and Elvia Huerta of Evil Cooks have released the El Sereno Food Passport, a $10 booklet to promote local restaurants.

The first edition of the booklet features 18 local restaurants, each offering its own little perk when you visit and get your passport stamped. Customers can either get free snacks or drinks or get a discount.

At Tirzah’s Mexi-Terranean, you can either get 15% off your order or a free esquite when you show your passport.

Evil Cooks is so metal, they make black octopus tacos. They have also experimented with gansito tamales. This Halloween, they collaborated with Amiga Amore, a Mexitalian eatery, to create a special “witches menu” that included huitlacoche, aguachile negro and lamb shank in fig mole.

Get the passport

Pick up a passport:

• Evil Cooks, 3333 N. Eastern Ave., Los Angeles
• Lil East Coffee, 2734 N. Eastern Ave., Los Angeles